Wis 8:17

“What we think within ourselves we remember in our hearts, since mentioning both things, that is, a thought and a memory, has shown that they are not exterior but interior. It is said also in the book of Proverbs, "Son, do not let evil thoughts ensnare you, thoughts that abandon the teachings of youth and forget the divine covenant. Their dwelling is near death, and their paths with mortals, alongside the netherworld." If evil thoughts, which have made their dwelling near death, are outside of death and not in it, they are certainly alive. And if they are near, but not in, the netherworld, the only remaining possibility is that what is not in death or in the netherworld would have life in heaven. For this reason it is said to God, "You have rescued my soul from death," because, through faith, he has given life to the soul, saying, "My righteous one, through faith, will live." And thus it is also said to him, "From the depths of the netherworld you have rescued my soul," since souls are rescued from the netherworld by the grace of God, so that they would live in heaven. Thus the apostle says, "Our homeland is in heaven." Moreover, how was the soul, which was near death because of evil thoughts, freed from death, if it was not dead? And how was it taken from the netherworld, if it was near the netherworld but not in it? If in fact it was not in death, it was not dead. But who does not know that the soul dies through an evil will—that is, through sin—since God says, "The soul that sins will die." It is therefore certain that the soul that thinks wickedly, being near death, is in death, and being near the netherworld is in the netherworld. And what does the Savior say? "What is impossible for human beings is possible for God."”

“Immortality is in the kinship of wisdom, because whatever is truly known about its nature is found to be wholly immortal and always living. In whose friendship, there is good delight; and the more one advances in love for it, the more sweetly one burns with affection for it. In the works of its hands is honor without failure, because it is the origin of all things, and through it all things were created which are in heaven and which are on earth, and which are under the earth. Of which it is written: You have made all things in wisdom (Ps. 104:24). And in the Gospel it says: All things were made through him, and without him nothing was made that was made; in him was life, and the life was the light of men, and the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it (Jn. 1:3-5). In the contest of its speech, wisdom and brilliance are in the communication of its words, because wisdom itself opens the mouth of the mute, and makes the tongues of infants eloquent. Indeed, I do not want you to seek all these things outside of Christ, for all things that are of God, Christ is: he himself is his wisdom, he himself is strength, he himself is justice, he himself is holiness, and redemption, he himself, to come to the present, is also forethought. But since it is in the underlying, according to the variety of senses, it is called by different names, wisdom signifies one thing, justice another. For when wisdom is spoken of, it institutes the disciplines of divine and human things. When justice, it signifies the distributor and judge of merits. When holiness, that virtue is described which makes believers in God holy. I was going around seeking to take her for myself. This going around signifies the diligence of seeking and the effort of meditating, through which the hearts of the elect strive to attain the knowledge of wisdom. Therefore, also the bride in the Song of Songs says: I will rise and go around the city, through the streets and squares, seeking whom my soul loves. I sought him and did not find him; the watchmen who guard the city found me. Have you seen him whom my soul loves? Scarcely had I passed them, when I found him whom my soul loves (Songs 3:2-4).”

“Third, the same is shown from the zeal of seeking wisdom in a threefold manner. Thinking upon these things, etc. Here third he shows how much he loved wisdom, and this from the zeal of seeking her. And concerning this, first he shows the diligence of seeking: second, the aptitude for receiving: But I was a boy: third, the confidence of obtaining: And as I knew First, the diligence of seeking wisdom is shown. In the first part he sets forth three causes moving one to seek knowledge: first, the effect of wisdom in the heart: second, the effect in work: And in works: third, the effect in speech: And in the contest of speech. (Vers. 17.). These things, namely the foregoing, pondering within myself, frequently meditating on them, and recalling in my heart, namely the following things, bringing them back to memory lest I forget: for the animal that "chews the cud and divides the hoof," namely by remembering and discerning, is clean, Leviticus 11: Luke 2: "Mary kept all these words," etc. That she is immortal, namely by nature, or by the effect of the immortality which she confers: whence above in the same book: "Through her I shall have immortality." In the thought of wisdom, that is, in the understanding: the Gloss: "Whatever is known of her nature, the whole is found to be immortal and ever living": below in chapter 15: "To know your justice and your power is the root of immortality."”

“That the Son according to divinity has always been immortal, or is, the divine writings testify everywhere. Solomon affirming the same more clearly: Immortality is in thought wisdom, and the delight of its friendship is good (Wis. 8:17). Likewise there: In the works of the hands of wisdom is honor without failing, and in the contest of his words immortality, and eternal life, in the communication of his words perpetual brightness (Ibid., 18).”